Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy 2011! I'm still recovering from holiday visits and distractions, so it'll be a couple days more before life returns to something resembling normalcy.

Petty Gods submissions are now closed. I'll be sorting through those submissions I've received over the last couple of weeks soon, along with offers of help with artwork. If you haven't heard back from me yet, hold tight and I'll be in touch between now and Monday. Once I'm done, I'll be posting a tentative table of contents for the book, which should include more than 100 gods, probably closer to 120 or thereabouts. Thanks once again to everyone who submitted and thank you to all the artists who've offered their talents in service to this project. Thanks too to Paul Jaquays for agreeing to write a brief foreword to the book.

With luck, Petty Gods will be available, both as a free PDF and as a for-cost print product fairly soon. I have no firm date on its release just yet, since laying this out and getting it ready may take a while, but I'm hoping it won't take too long. I'll keep everyone updated on this as things progress. In the meantime, enjoy this illustration of Screbblo, the petty god of quality footware, as imagined by M.T. Black and drawn by Wesley Godley.

See you all on Monday, when regular posting resumes, including several reviews that are long overdue.

Silvarno is the God of Late Submissions and Missed Deadlines. He is prayed to by authors suffering writers block, or otherwise facing approaching deadlines with nothing but blank sheets of paper in hand. He appears as a thin figure in an ink-stained frock coat, with crumpled papers emerging from every pocket, clutching partially-finished manuscripts. Should the papers be examined closely (which would most likely involve slaying the god, as he will never relinquish them to any but Maliscus, the God of Implacable Editors), they will be found to include startling profound ideas that would undoubtedly redefine the relationship of man, demihuman, and god, if only they were completed in a timely fashion.

In combat, Silvarno attacks with a sheaf of papers, causing 1d8 points of damage due to paper cuts. Anyone struck must also save vs. spells or suffer the effects of a slow spell. Each round, Silvarno must make a morale check, or decide he doesn't have time for combat with all the deadlines, and runs away as quickly as possible.

Silvarno's reaction to the mortals he encounters is determined by rolling 2d6, subtracting the mortal's Wisdom modifier, and consulting the following table:

2 or under. Silvarno breathes a sigh of relief, mistaking the mortal for an editor, and hands him a scroll with 2d6 spells (appropriate to the character's class if a spell caster, randomly chosen otherwise).3-5. Silvarno asks the character to proof-read one of his latest manuscripts. The manuscript is pure genius, and the reader's intelligence is increased by 1d4 points for the next 24 hours, until he realizes the fatal flaw in Silvarno's thesis.6-8. Silvarno has no time to chat, he's got deadlines to meet.9-11. Silvarno blames the party for his being late, and curses them. They will be late for the next 1d6 appointments they try to keep.12 or higher. Silvarno is furious at all these interruptions, and attacks!

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